Ad Categories: Home and Garden

Interior designer Susan Fredman’s new shop, At Home in the City, celebrated its grand opening last night with a crowded bash. The River North space-part store, part design workshop-features tabletop items, kitchen accessories, throws, and all matter of home accessories (love the Bon Bon ottoman of looped wool), including about a dozen private-label items available only here. I really loved the small dog paintings by Bruce McGaw (affordable at $50 each) and the way they were grouped on a wall. I also loved the chairs that look like chicken wire by Design Workshop ($362 each). This is the second retail venture for Fredman (pictured here); her other is a more resort-home-oriented store, At Home With Nature, on Red Arrow Highway in Union Pier, Michigan. 

-JAN PARR

What you gotta love about the world of design is that even something as mundane as a trashcan can become a status symbol for its clean lines and functional simplicity. When the sleek Vipp catalog arrived in my InBox, I had an inkling that perhaps my own stainless steel push-pedal bin from the Container Store was a knock-off or, if not that, then it was simply very pedestrian compared to the Vipp, which will set you back $280 for a 14-inch high size at Waterworks. Then I checked out Vipps’s website and read about how the company was founded in 1939 by a Dane, followed by a press release about how a Vipp that Bono had co-designed for a charity auction drew $30,000 (granted Bono could get a cool grand for a hanky he’s sneezed into). Well I have to say, I like these status bins—and the company just came out with a cool push-pedal laundry basket ($625). The toilet brush is pretty darn cute, too; for $200, it better be. Available at Waterworks.

—Gina Bazer

The French were out in full force last week at Golden Triangle, famed showroom of Asian furniture. That’s no typo, the genius of Golden Triangle’s merchandise is that it mixes so well with so many other styles. The interior designer Martial and his pal Didier Milleriot, who owned Le Magasin, were among those at this party to celebrate Golden Triangle’s new line of modern furniture handcrafted from ancient woods, called Exposed  (see table in photo). We also spotted furniture designer Jill Salisbury of EL: Environmental Language. If you haven’t been to Golden Triangle’s relatively new location, this is as good a reason as any to stop in. The showroom is a stunner and this collection is great.

—JAN PARR

There’s a terrifically clever furniture and design show going on right now at the Cultural Center that’s going to put a smile on your face, I guarantee it. Deceptive Design was organized by a collaboration between the Chicago Chapter of the Industrial Designers Society of America and the Chicago Furniture Designers Association, and consists of 18 objects that play with our conceptions of furniture. The trompe l’oeil living room includes a chair (“Caveat Sittor”) with what appears to be a thumbtack sticking up out of the seat, a dresser with drawers that only open from the back, and “Wolf in Sheep’s Lighting”—a sweet little sheep lamp that casts a menacing shadow when it’s turned on. I really liked this adaptable shelving unit by Mark Kinsley that forms art when you fold it flat against the wall, Andrew Peerless’s  “Herd” Table, and Craighton Berman’s “Coil Lamp,” made from an industrial extension cord. The show is up until Jan. 4.. Don’t miss it.

"Herd Table", above left. "Riveli Shelves", above right, "Coil Lamp", right.

—BRADLEY LINCOLN

Crimson Lounge was packed for the final event in the Basil Hayden Tastemakers competition, where Nate Berkus presented an oversized $10,000 check at the end of the evening to crowd favorite Rion Stassi for his chandelier, and gave a heartfelt speech about the effect such an award can have on the trajectory of a young designer’s career. I was impressed by the quality of the prototypes that he, Sarah Tranum, and Bryan Lump crafted—each semi-finalist got $2,500 to bring their Berkus-selected designs to life—and they’re all winners in my book! 

BRADLEY LINCOLN

PHOTO: Frank Failin

The Ambiente Collection, the River North shop that specializes in contemporary European (mostly German and Swiss) furniture is clearing its merchandise and shuttering in January. The manager informed me that he just sold a couch for $900 that would normally go for about $3,800. As sorry as we are to hear of this news, more good buys are waiting. 

-Gina Bazer